This invention relates to a connector with a locking mechanism for use in connection with a flexible print circuit board.
Hithertofore, a variety of connectors with locking mechanism have been proposed for use in connection with flexible print circuit boards (the flexible print circuit board will be abbreviated as "FPC" hereinafter) and the most common one of the prior art connectors with locking mechanisms is shown in FIGS. 1a and 1b of the accompanying drawings. In these Figures, reference numeral 1 denotes the housing of the connector, reference numeral 2 denotes contact springs each folded to provide two opposing legs housed in spaced relationship within the connector housing 1 and reference numeral 3 denotes a locking plate pivotally mounted at one end of the connector housing 1. After a FPC has been inserted into the housing 1 to be positioned between the opposing legs of each contact springs, when the locking plate 3 is rotated in the arrow direction A to bias the contact springs against the FPC whereupon the contact springs firmly grip the FPC to lock the same in position under the force applied to the springs by the rotation of the locking plate 3 in the above-mentioned direction. In order to further ensure the locking of the FPC in position, the FPC is provided with a plurality of spaced locking notches (not shown) in suitably spaced positions along one side edge thereof and the locking plate is also provided with a similar number of spaced projections 31 along one side edge thereof in positions corresponding to those of the locking notches in the FPC for engaging in the notches when the FPC is locked in a predetermined position.
However, the prior art connector referred to hereinabove can not be used in a device in which a space sufficient for allowing the locking plate 3 to rotate in the arrow direction A is not available. In addition, the above-mentioned connector with the locking mechanism can not meet the present trend in the art which calls for smaller and smaller connectors. Furthermore, since the locking plate 3 is usually produced by the moulding process, the connector provided with such a locking plate is inevitably expensive.